Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Karl Newell The Crompton House Church of England Academy Rochdale Road Shaw Oldham Lancashire OL2 7HS

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Ofsted visit to The Crompton House Church of England Academy

Following my visit with Will Smith, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI), to your school on 1 October 2020, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the visit’s findings. Thank you for the time you made available to discuss your actions since September 2020, when the government expected all schools to open fully to all pupils.

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Ofsted visit to The Crompton House Church of England Academy

This visit was conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 (as amended) and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for visiting schools while routine inspections are temporarily suspended.

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Ofsted visit to The Crompton House Church of England Academy

Ofsted’s visits to schools during the autumn term are not inspections. We are not giving graded judgements. We did not undertake the usual range of inspection activities and were unable to check other sources of evidence, such as visits to lessons or looking at pupils’ work. The content of this letter gives an overview of our discussions about what has happened in your school this term.

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Ofsted visit to The Crompton House Church of England Academy

During the visit, we spoke to you and other members of the leadership team. We did not speak to pupils because of the protective measures in place.

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Context

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills is leading Ofsted’s work into how England’s education system is managing the return to full education for pupils, following an extended break in formal schooling due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. In undertaking this focused work, HMI are visiting a broad range of schools. HMI will visit a sample of:

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Context

 approximately 1,200 schools across all Ofsted grades (outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate)  maintained schools, academies and free schools, special schools and centres of alternative provision, including those in cities, and coastal, town or rural communities.

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Context

The information from this visit will feed into Ofsted’s national reporting so that the insights can be shared with the government and the education sector. We did not find any significant concerns during the visit. In such a case, an inspection report would be published on our website and available to parents and carers.

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Context

We did not consider your response to COVID-19 during the spring and summer terms 2020, when the school was not open to all pupils.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

 You opened the school fully to all pupils, and students in the sixth form, on 9 September 2020. All pupils are expected to attend full time.  Since pupils returned, attendance has been slightly below that of the corresponding period last year. You and staff are working with parents to encourage pupils to attend school regularly.  Pupils and students in all year groups are studying all of their usual curriculum subjects. Subject leaders have made minor changes to their curriculum plans. This is to make sure that teachers go over the key points that pupils should have learned before the period when schools were only open to some pupils due to COVID-19 restrictions.  Where possible, you are restarting extra-curricular activities. For example, pupils have resumed their work towards the Duke of Edinburgh Award.  Teachers are using a range of strategies to assess how well pupils learned during the spring and summer terms. You intend for subject leaders to make

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

more substantial changes to their curriculum plans if weaknesses in pupils’ prior learning are revealed as the term progresses.  You have adopted a range of different approaches to delivering the curriculum remotely, which includes a combination of ‘live’ lessons and set work. You intend to continue with this approach in the event of pupils having to work at home.

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From this visit, inspectors noted that:

Thank you again for contributing to this important national work. The views and experiences you have shared will help to inform future policy. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the diocese of Manchester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Oldham local authority. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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